81 xj550 no spark/won't start

Hey guys. New guy here. Bought an 81 xj550 Seca from a storage locker a few years ago. No gauges, some lame twisted handlebars, no hand controls, no foot controls. It was a pretty good frame to go nuts with it and thats what I did. original motor was wiped when I bought it (cams were log gone) bought a motor off ebay and got the frame stretched to have a bobber build. New rectifier, new solenoid, all the fuses are good. I have a few issues that are driving me nuts and I'm hoping someone can help me out.

1. I have no spark out of coils. I've seen so many threads about the neutral switch, the clutch switch, and the kick stand switch. Currently my clutch switch(blue/yellow and black/yellow) is bypassed twisted together temporarily. My kick stand switch (black and blue/yellow) is twisted together and grounded. And the neutral switch is hooked up and the sky blue wire is hooked to the blue wire out of the harness. What am i doing wrong? Is there something entirely obvious I'm missing?

2. I have an aftermarket hand control (K&S vintage RH from DCC) i'm only interested in using the start and on/off from it. Not worried about the lights on/off. The start button doesn't work. Is this due to whatever is wrong with my lack of spark? Are they all related?

3. I have a simple signal detector from Harbor Freight. Put it on a ground and touch connectors and if it lights up you have a signal. Thats how I've been testing everything thus far. I have current everywhere it sees like I should.

4. Bonus question, what length throttle cable is everyone running who has drag bars? Stock cable is way too long.

Thank you in advance. Pictures attached.

 

unground the side stand switch. to bypass side stand switch you remove the side stand relay . or disconnect the black/white wire at the tci bullet connector.

you do not need to twist the clutch safety switch wires together. if you disconnect the switch from the green connector bike will only start in neutral.

does your neutral light come on?

starter button in the 550 makes the connection to ground your painted handle bars may be a problem (or would be with oem controls)
the ground from starter button goes through the handle bars and in 82 it was done back through the harness as a redundant circuit.

the run/kill switch is what brings voltage to the tci, ignition coils and solinoid from the ignition fuse.

the L?W wire from starter button runs back to solinoid

 

I'm not sure if it comes on. I didn't have any gauges or assembly when I bought the bike. I have the sprocket cover off and its not spinning so I know its in N. I've tried to get this bike to start in every way I can think of and still nothing. So what should I do for a ground for the starter button?

 

uploading something for you an inbox message will be there for you shortly

 

Appreciate it.

 

for ground you that depends on your controler a link to it would help. you can run a wire to the bolt that holds the coils to the frame up into the controler
or scrape paint off the handle bars at mounts and where controler clamps on but not sure how your after market control works

 

do you have the complete wiring harness with sidestand relay and starter relay? diode block?

 

Yea. Diode block is there, and everything else that should be.

 

now a different angle you need to check for 12 volts at the tci when you have that if your battery voltage drops below 10 volts no spark
you need to test voltage drop when starting

you will need to ohm out your ignition system
pick up coils , ignition coils primary and secondary and spark plug caps

 

I'll try that next. Currently trying to jump the bike using a car battery while I wait for my actual motorcycle battery haha. So I'd imagine I have a good voltage but you never know. I'm game to try anything right now.

 

how did you wire up your controller?
http://www.dimecitycycles.com/k-s-vintage-style-right-hand-control-switch-on-off-start-fits-7-8.html

 

I attached a photo of it in my original post. Blue/white to blue/white and then tried two different ways to attach the brown to r/w and then just r/w to r/w. Didn't hook up the three wires for the lights.

 

in the stack harness there is a connector under gas tank.
it has 2 R/W ( red/white) wires a L/w (blue /white) wire and possibly a black wire

the 2 red/white wires connect to the run/kill switch in your controler
one of the red/w wires is 12 volts from the ignition fuse. the other red/w wire runs to all the components that need 12 volts in the starting system.

the L/W wire goes to the wire on the starter button in the controler the matching wire from the controller for the starter button is wired to frame ground
the l/w wire comes from the solinoid.

can you ID the controler wires and what switch they go to in the controller

 

L/w to l/w for the starter.
R/w is to r/w
Brown (on control) is to the other r/w.

 

the black connector by the ignition coil connectors is the wires you want to hook into as you see there is just 3 wires you need to hook a ground up for the final leg of the starter button the ring terminal in photo is the ground at the ignition coil mount

 

do not assume the colors on the dcc control match the wires on the oem controler you have to ohm them out to varify unless they gave you a diagram.

edit I does look like you chose the correct 3 wires from the harness

 

I was gonna say...haha. Yeah i have them in the right spots. The back of the packaging does include a color coordination on it. (I know wiring is messy. Definitely not permanent)

I'm not hearing a click from the relay when I press the start button. Not sure if that could be significant or not.

 

ok time to check for voltage where it is needed
with key on you should have 12 volts on both side of the ignition fuse
when you turn the key on starter safety relay should click and so should the sidestand safety relay.

there should be 12 volts at the red white wire at the tci, coil connectors, and the red white wire at the solenoid.


The Ultimate Relay, Switch, Sensor, and Diodes Guide

Sidestand (kickstand) switch:
- twist the two (or three, depending on the model) wires together and ground them. Grounding the wires is the only way to complete the circuit that activates the sidestand switch relay.

Sidestand (kickstand) relay:
- unplug the safety relay which disables the whole bloody mess but DO NOT leave it that way, fix it right!

Neutral switch (in bottom of engine case):
- jumper the lead wire to a known good ground; if the neutral light comes on (assuming the bulb is good!), then the wire circuit is good. If the neutral light will still not light up when the transmission is in neutral, you can try jiggling the switch slightly (tap on it with a screwdriver blade, etc.....it's hard to reach) or tightening the switch slightly. Otherwise, the switch is either bad internally, or the brass plunger has worn down to the point where it cannot make contact with the shifter drum plunger (550 models) or the drum itself (650 thru 1100 models) and should be replaced.

 

Okay. I got it to fire by crossing the solenoid. Have the two wires from the kickstand bypassed and replaced the starter circuit relay. I still have no power from the start button itself though.

 

the starter button connects to ground and the power for the circuit feeds from the solenoid.

should be 12 volts on feed red/white side of solenoid and less voltage on the blue /white wire which feeds to the starter button.

on your starter button you have connected the blue white wire harness to the blue white wire switch?

what are you doing for ground wire from starter switch to frame??

the oem controler has a ground wire hooked to the screw that holds starter button in place AND uses the controler body and UNPAINTED handle bars to ground the button